Originally posted by Nihilist

I am a little aprehensive about the lack of a map.

 

It may be cool to actually get lost in an mmo, but when guilds / groups are trying to coordinate things it seems like it would be more of an annoyance. As far as I am concerned, if you are going to give people coordinates, then you might as well give them an arrow to indicate where they are.

 

Annoying people for the sake of 'realism' in a game seems pretty foolish in my mind. If it isn't fun then why bother.

I can definitely understand your concern. If your trying to group up with your guild to defend one of your comrads and you can't find them, that would be frustrating.

At the same time their are other 'real' ways around this. In real life if I am going to drive somewhere I look it up on mapquest because i don't have a GPS for my car. I look at the map, I take down directions, I go.  I have seen maps 'created' for other games in the past. I'm sure some fan sites will have maps available for this game as well. The 'immersion' I guess will be that you actually have to study and memorize them to get to your destination. You simply won't have GPS on your journeys throughout MO 

Originally posted by Infalible

His sole aim in a lot of the answers was to label anything that DIDN'T feature in Mortal Online as casual-friendly or as being too niche for a niche. Another of his aims was clearly to wave a hand of perceived superiority and dismal at any game that includes anything the resembles any of the steps forward that has been taken in the MMO genre. "Be gone, vile pest! Your ingenuity abhors my archaic mind." He could replace the entirety of his responses with a single sentence repeated over and over again - "Marketing bullshit goes here."

This guy has a level of arrogance reserved only for those individuals who's only over-powering trait is arrogance. I can think of another man with exactly the same quality, who managed to lie and cheat his way into total failure. I wonder if any of you can guess who he is?

I'd bet on Mortal Online tanking badly ;-)

Hmmm let's see how many games made in last 5 years have decided on no minimap/FPV/no auto-loot etc.? I can't think of any. How many games made in the last 5 years have had those things? Pretty much all of them. I guess what I'm trying to point out here is that your post is actually saying to Mats "Be gone, vile pest Your ingenuity abhors my archaic mind." Of course ypu won't take the time to reverse your point of view just to see the irony, but I'm sure an unbiased person would see how you are casting down new ideas.

And to the person who thinks it will be annoying to have people spamming about sales, well with the lack of long-range/global chat it should be easy to get out of ear shot. They can follow you away from the city guards at their own risk. Anyway an auction house takes away from interpersonal reaction which is a major goal of MO, but most people can't imagine spending a good hour talking with merchants just to get some after death gear, and these same people are offended that it takes away from their time to have fun, because engaging in trade with merchants can't be fun and there's no way you could make a friend or two.

Well sorry to disagree, but without 3rd person view this game will tank badly.  I don't know anyone that likes first person view, I know there are a few of you out there, but not enough to keep a MMO going.   Add in that it is a pvp game, the limited vision provided by the 1st person view will be a killer.

Nothing  wrong with fitting you game into a niche, but a tiny niche that can't support you?

Man I cant wait been waiting on MO for a long time.     I love a truthfuly company and a grate game and working on the core only for the most part till it done and done right.   MO  will be my next baby like Shadowbane and Dark Age of Camelot befor it sadly i was unable to play UO till the game was going down hill.

What are they doing to prevent hacking?

He says he respects Eve, but one of the things that makes Eve well done and playable is that the consequences for high security  are so high that most people don't bother to PVP there. I can understand the appeal of PvP everywhere, and the guy apparantly only wants a small niche market, but having some safe hunting spots, even if they are very unprofitable and resource poor, would at least give newbies a place where they can practice and get used to the controls.

Intentionally taking away features and make the game less convenient??? Full loot? I can see the griefers now. This will be a UO-repeat and sometimes people wonder why UO's popularity dropped once EQ came out. 

And an MMO with almost little advancement? Does players have to click a rock for hours to advance "mining" skills?

LOL .. i guess i dont even have to try it out. Good luck of finding any players.

Originally posted by veritas_X

I think the point is that the type of people likely to be annoyed by attempts at realism aren't the intended audience.  He's pretty clear about that in the interview.

Why is guild/group coordination more important than the immersiveness of a solo explorer or a couple of hunters out there trying to make a living off of pelts?  There are plenty of other games out there that don't give a shit about immersiveness, let us have this one.

Sure. The question is how big an audience is left. Most people play games to GET AWAY from the real world. I am quite sure i don't want a repeat in my games.

Originally posted by Mrbloodworth

 

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It's very easy to see that many of the systems in modern MMO's are there to actually take away from the amount of player skill and player-to-player (PtP) interaction needed, whether it is minimaps, auto-maps, levels, quests, auto-loot, auto-loot-distribution, auction-houses, global chat etc. It makes them fun and gives them a flow, but it also makes them casual as anyone can play without much thought (and that's also where the big money is). Now obviously we want Mortal Online to be fun to play and successful, but we're not ready to make compromises on our design principles: Player Skill, Player Interaction and PvP, Immersion and Believability. Therefore a lot of the features one would expect to see in a modern MMO are different, or we have simply removed them.

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I don't get it.

The more I read about this game the better it gets.  I don't expect it to do well with much of the mmorpg.com audience.  All the more reason to be excited about Mortal Online's release :D

I think some people are failing to realize that you will be aiming, leading and generally fighting as if you were playing Counter Strike, Call of Duty, Half Life, or the myriad of other First Person Shooter (FPS) games out there. All of those games use first person views because they compliment the game play so well. Sure, you could choose a look similar to Resident Evil or Splinter Cell, but that would detract from the “realism” the developers are going after. They don’t want people switching into third person view so they can look around a corner, over a wall or on top of a roof. Since you can’t switch views in real life, the development team’s choice adds a degree of “realism” to the game and I, for one, applaud it.

If any of you have played Planet Side before you will know the pitfalls of a game that allows first and third person views. You could use the various views to see people over ridges, see mines and even see people who where cloaked around you (before that particular “exploit” was patched by the development team).

It is my opinion that FPS’ (this includes MMOFPS’ as well) with third person views detracts from the game play, not enhances it. And yes, this game sounds like a great deal of fun and I can see myself playing it. Paint my post with whichever biased you see most appropriate.

I think he should have instead addressed how he would deal with the problems of that model, and succeed where UO, EVE, and Darkfall fail. The features are less important that repeating history over again, in all the bad ways.

Originally posted by Nizur

Where in the interview was this game pitched as "hardcore"? Or is that how you perceived the interview?

I'm not understanding the vitriol from people that this game isn't even aimed at. Mats clearly stated that the game will appeal to a niche group of players. You don't like something about the game. OK. The game isn't for you then. Move on. Nothing is accomplished by getting your panties in a wad over it. I take that back. The only thing that is accomplished is you vented your nerd rage.

They've said they are making a niche title without many of the conveniences that most MMO players take for granted these days (map, global trade and communication etc) and with a twitch based combat system. I'd say that qualifies the game as hardcore.

I'm not sure if your second paragraph was aimed at me, but there's no vitriol or nerd rage here. This is a discussion forum and people are going to post their opinions, both positive and negative.

 I can say for a fact that the devs do look at other games. I have a friend that works for Starvault, and he is a fan of World of Warcraft. He currently doesn't play (swamped with work), but we used to raid once a week. :)

I have preordered this already, this interview explains why. I love how the devs aren't boasting their game to be GREAT FOR ALL TYPES OF PLAYERS, but that they simply admit that casual players won't like it and that it's not at all like most mmos out there. And it has all the features I want, every answer in that interview makes me smile!

If you don't like it, just move along. There are hundreds of mmos out there with levels, minimaps, consentual pvp without consequences, classes and other things that make the game easy to play and risk free. Take your pick.

For the rest, see you in what is looking to be the best mmo ever released! :D

For the record, they don't claim the games features to be new, just different to what is standard today. I also see no arrogance in this interview as some claim, but quite the opposite. To admit that your game won't appeal to everyone because of it's features is humble, not arrogant.

The boxed version costs 68.69 EUR. Can anyone in Beta confirm that these features are in game and that the game will be released this winter?
 

Originally posted by Vagelisp

The boxed version costs 68.69 EUR. Can anyone in Beta confirm that these features are in game and that the game will be released this winter?
 

Please don't ask others to break the NDA.

Originally posted by Nihilist

I am a little aprehensive about the lack of a map.

 

It may be cool to actually get lost in an mmo, but when guilds / groups are trying to coordinate things it seems like it would be more of an annoyance. As far as I am concerned, if you are going to give people coordinates, then you might as well give them an arrow to indicate where they are.

 

Annoying people for the sake of 'realism' in a game seems pretty foolish in my mind. If it isn't fun then why bother.

There are maps!

How about one of the guys in the guild become a chartographer (spelling?), and then make maps for everyone?

What Mats was saying is that the game doesn't PROVIDE the map for you.
You have to make them, using in game skills and exploration.

Nice interview as always!

I just want some screenies or movie made by them to tempt me. Won't count on it since they got work up their ears ^^

Keep the interviews coming!

I don't get the nerd rage with MO not having every feature that YOU want. It is what it is. Do you guys also get pissed that you can't shoot terrorists with a machine-gun in a flight sim?

If what MO strives to be is not to your liking don't play it. Just stop trying to belittle the devs and those of us who do like what they see.

Originally posted by Slineer

Originally posted by wese

Good interview, i wonder why there is no single word on Darkfall, just Eve as another Sandbox MMO.

 

The comparison to EVE was that it is a niche that started small and grew over time. At least the way I read it.  Putting Darkfall in there would say that they are going to lie to everyone for 2 yrs, release an unfinished grind based game with crap graphics, crap map, pre-built player cities/housing with no customization etc etc... the list goes on. Darkfall was a pathetic excuse for a game and at best a well thought out scam. I'm glad the only reason DF comes up with MO devs is for its failures as there is absolutely no positive to be learned from DF, only what not to do.

Your reply is 100% failor and obvious you never have played darkfall.

But your a rabiit MO fan that hates Darkfall its your right to do so its only a shame you guys lie so much as Darkfall haters:(

Have fun in MO im positive that most will run back to Darkfall and rest quit:P

Originally posted by Evasia

Originally posted by Slineer

Originally posted by wese

Good interview, i wonder why there is no single word on Darkfall, just Eve as another Sandbox MMO.

 

The comparison to EVE was that it is a niche that started small and grew over time. At least the way I read it.  Putting Darkfall in there would say that they are going to lie to everyone for 2 yrs, release an unfinished grind based game with crap graphics, crap map, pre-built player cities/housing with no customization etc etc... the list goes on. Darkfall was a pathetic excuse for a game and at best a well thought out scam. I'm glad the only reason DF comes up with MO devs is for its failures as there is absolutely no positive to be learned from DF, only what not to do.

 

Your reply is 100% failor and obvious you never have played darkfall.

But your a rabiit MO fan that hates Darkfall its your right to do so its only a shame you guys lie so much as Darkfall haters:(

Have fun in MO im positive that most will run back to Darkfall and rest quit:P

having played both...I think you will be wrong on your final conclusion. For myself, I can say that AV's attitude steered me away from it as much as the game itself did.

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Originally posted by Kainis

 

While I have often agreed with Bloodworth, this time I actually disagree. I think, mostly because he is jaded with recent ventures into this niche. I can't really blame him.

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Not at all, I find many of the features they propose interesting and very cool. I just didn't go into that in this post, so i must be a troll... The crafting system sounds very awesome, if done right.

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Originally posted by Infalible

 

His sole aim in a lot of the answers was to label anything that DIDN'T feature in Mortal Online as casual-friendly or as being too niche for a niche. Another of his aims was clearly to wave a hand of perceived superiority and dismal at any game that includes anything the resembles any of the steps forward that has been taken in the MMO genre. "Be gone, vile pest! Your ingenuity abhors my archaic mind." He could replace the entirety of his responses with a single sentence repeated over and over again - "Marketing bullshit goes here."

 

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This was my takeaway as well. Hence my comment about it getting the forum warrors frothing, right upto the point they find out they are not as hardcore as they thought they were.

 

Originally posted by Nizur  Drivel and attack instead of talking about the article.

 

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I have a number of games under my belt, thanks. Also, that comment was unrelated. I posted my opinion of game design, its called criticism. Look it up. No where did I tell them what they needed to do defacto, end of story.

Couldnt agree more.....

What I got out of this interview was not that the devs are arrogant at all.  They know what type of gamers their game is meant for and they do not want to hype it up to the non-target audience.  Seems fair to me.  If they do it that way then it will stem the tide of negativity somewhat when the game finally does come out.  The trend lately seems to be overhyping a game and then when people play it they are disappointed.  Disappointment breeds contempt and it spirals down from there.

On a derailing note:

A certain responder in this thread should know that pretentiousness tastes like chicken.  MMMMmmmm

The only thing that is turning me off from this game right now is the no 3rd person view.     This all 1st person view is just not my cup of tea and I do not see how it will effect PvP is you give the option for for  a 3rd person aspect.    Look at Mount & Blade.   I think they got it right and that type of camera control is mre to my liking.    To bad this game will not give us that kind of freedom.